


Like a plane crash

by Green_Sphynx



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Not Joe friendly (because of the pov), Unreliable Narrator, because it is not very positive about most, no Killer Frost, not tagging more characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 10:50:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21372934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green_Sphynx/pseuds/Green_Sphynx
Summary: If Savitar had truly taken Barry's invitation to join the team in S.T.A.R. Labs... if Savitar did not have Killer Frost, and craved his old friends too much not to give them a chance... would they make a better case for themselves then? Maybe not, but one Caitlin just might've made the difference.
Relationships: Savitar/Caitlin Snow
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	Like a plane crash

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Purpleyin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purpleyin/gifts).

> This was supposed to be much longer, but regretfully I started this shortly before I was hit by a writer's block that lasted months. Now I can write again, but the muse still balked against this fic, so I gave it a finish much, much earlier than intended.

Watching Barry and Iris try to make Savitar fit in was like watching a plane crashing. One engine on fire, a smoke trail so thick it would be visible across the continent, and arcing down far too steep while a pilot was desperately trying to pull the nose up and let the aircraft soar just enough to make an emergency landing rather than just hurtling down to the hard, unforgiving earth that would turn the whole plane and all its passengers into a flattened patch of rubble exploding over the landscape.

Savitar was the plane, but Caitlin was unsure which of Barry and Iris was the pilot and which the co-pilot. Looking at the disaster unfolding, neither of them seemed to know either.

Bringing Savitar in had been a pretty good idea. Offer him what he had been denied - the love and acceptance his life lacked so dearly it drove him mad - and find a way to stop the paradox from reaching him and erasing him from existence. Savitar was really just another Barry, but a Barry who had been shunned by those he loved, simply for existing at the same time as another version of himself. What happened to Savitar and turned him into this was … so terrible Caitlin had no words to even describe it.

Savitar deserved a chance. Savitar deserved many chances.  _ They _ were the ones who failed him, and they should be grateful Savitar was giving  _ them _ a chance to make up for it, really.

And keeping the paradox from erasing him was working out surprisingly well. Harry, Barry and Savitar teamed up pretty efficiently and somehow made it work, although no definitive solution had been found yet.

Giving Savitar the love he was promised - the love he  _ deserved _ … well,  _ that _ was the plane crash currently in action.

Oh, Iris had been all big, wet eyes and heart-felt promises to have him join them. She would be there for him, offer him the love he craved, the love he  _ needed _ , even if she was still going to be with Barry. Caitlin was really rather impressed that Savitar had accepted her words, because the whole scenario was a forest of red flags. The only way Iris was going to give Savitar what he needed was by taking him into her relationship with Barry as an equal, as a lover and fianc é and then husband.

And there was no way  _ that _ was going to happen.

Savitar must've known that from the start, and yet … he gave it a chance. It just showed how much he truly was Barry on the inside.

But he was also very much  _ not _ Barry, as Caitlin had learnt over the past two weeks.

He was both cockier and more fragile. He was snarkier and more guilty. He was both bark and bite when provoked. And as long as Joe was around, he was definitely being provoked.

Joe was the burning engine of the plane.

Joe needed to accept Savitar as another Barry. Joe needed to  _ help _ . But he was doing more and more damage with nothing but his presence, sending warning glares across the room and refusing to talk to Savitar properly. Of course Caitlin could understand Joe was upset; Savitar  _ did _ try to kill Iris, and all that … but right now they would be better off  _ without _ him to make everyone in the room uncomfortable.

Caitlin could only take so much, watching Savitar's expression sour the longer Joe glared at him, his shoulder hunching in just the tiniest bit as if to protect himself from the judgemental looks. Barry and Iris didn't even notice, and Cisco was very pointedly ignoring the way Savitar's lip twitched in growing annoyance.

Caitlin cleared her throat to make sure Savitar heard her before stepping up to him from behind, resting one hand on his shoulder. "Hey," she offered softly, trying to sound caring and not let the steel from her gaze at Joe slip into her voice. "Would you mind coming with me so I can run a few tests? Just to make sure you're still alright."

"If the paradox was settling in to erase me from time, I'm sure we'd notice," Savitar snarked mildly. He still stood up to follow her though, no complaints or even any form of hesitance.

She felt a little giddy with the knowledge that he  _ trusted _ her. She had tried to offer him as much as possible since he arrived; accepting him among them like he was just a friend who'd been away a while, like Harry. She was kind and tried not to look judgemental or distrustful, even when he wasn't actually in the room. She was trying to do what Barry and Iris promised they'd do, and she was trying very hard.

Harder, now that she got to know him better.

She never really considered Barry as a romantic interest - aside from his obvious infatuation with Iris making such a thing moot from the start - but Savitar … there was something to him that Barry didn't have. And it wasn't just the darkness in him, the loneliness that made him lash out. His life had turned him into who he was, and he was not Barry.

He was definitely someone Caitlin considered as a romantic interest, and she had no idea what to do with that. It made her all the happier to know he trusted her though.

"I don't need your pity," Savitar informed her as soon as the door to the speed lab closed, leaving the rest of the team doubly out of earshot.

Caitlin felt like scoffing, but she didn't. "It's not pity for you I'm feeling. Joe is so much better than this, and it pains me to watch him demean himself with this behaviour."

It seemed to peak Savitar's interest. "What if he isn't?"

"He is," she insisted, giving him a look of disapproval. He answered with a careless shrug that said 'whatever' in exactly the way that meant he knew she was right.

She fiddled with the computer in the centre of the room for a moment, trying to find a way to salvage the situation before it turned uncomfortable. More uncomfortable than sitting under Joe's unforgiving glare.

"Why don't I hook you up and you run a few laps, see how your body is handling the-"

"You didn't  _ really _ bring me here for tests." Savitar interrupted her with no sign of remorse, his hip thumping against the metal table as he dropped into a casual lean that was too overdone, even for him. He had his arms crossed over his chest almost protectively, eyes narrowed slightly as he watched her for her reaction.

His body language threw her off, and she faltered for a moment, fingers hovering over the keyboard while she tried to figure him out. She had no idea what he was thinking, but she couldn't deny that the way he was looking at her slightly through his lashes was doing things for her.

"Might as well, while we're here?" She finally offered, trying not to sound as hesitant as she felt about it.

A smirk curled his lips and she felt the heat rising to her cheeks despite herself.

"Or we could do something else."

His response was playful,  _ suggestive _ , and Caitlin tried to fight the blush fully heating her face now, fumbling for something,  _ anything _ to say.

"S-something else?" She inwardly cursed the stutter, but her mind was  _ going _ places. Places that were not innocent and definitely not appropriate on the work floor.

"Yeah, aren't we friends? We used to hang out and have fun without it being about speedsters and paradoxes. Or is that only reserved for  _ Barry _ ?"

Caitlin deflated almost immediately, and now it was shame that had her face burn. "No- yes, of course- I mean, that's not reserved just for Barry, obviously. We're friends, Savitar. Or I want to be your friend. Do you see me as your friend?"

The question came out more uncertain than she had intended, and she winced a little at her own insensitivity.  _ They were friends. Savitar was the same man as Barry, and they were friends. There was not a question. _

Or there wasn't, until she suddenly realised she'd been turned around, now halfway sitting on the desk with Savitar's hand on either side of her hips and his face very,  _ very _ close.

"I don't know, Caitlin. What if I want to be more just your  _ friend _ ?"

She  _ should _ ask him what he meant. She  _ should _ make sure she knew his intentions, that he wasn't just playing around and bored or so starved for a little affection that he clamped on to every bit of positivity he was being given. She  _ should _ have opened her mouth and  _ talked _ .

Instead she opened her mouth at the same time as she was all but smashing it into his, too hard to be pleasant and only saved from their teeth clacking painfully together by  _ his _ speed. She could honestly not recall how her hands had made it up to his back, fingers burying into the back of his jacket to drag him closer, to keep him from escaping.

Not that she would be able to hold him if he didn't want to, but she couldn't really help herself anyway.

What she hadn't expected was that she clearly took him by surprise. He was slow to respond, his hands remaining on the desk beside her for a few moments too long before hesitantly moving to the small of her back. He wasn't holding her with the same possessive hands that she was him, more gently like he wanted to touch and support but was expecting her to pull away any moment.

So she did. He may have started it, but now she wasn't certain if he was really interested, or if she was just assuming things.

"I-I'm sorry- this is not what you wanted, is it?"

"No, it is!" His hands tightened a little on her back now, his hold more certain and more hesitant at the same time. "I just didn't expect you to actually … well…" He gestured to the right side of his face, eyes averted. He had never openly showed any insecurity about his scarring, and while Caitlin understood that such insecurities were  _ there,  _ she felt almost a bit offended that he thought that would be an issue for her.

She raised one hand to the scarred side of his face, pausing long enough for him to give a nod of permission to touch before she gently smoothed her palm over the burnt tissue. "There's nothing on your face that stops you from being an incredibly attractive man," she told him, voice low and steady. "There's nothing on your face that influences how much I desire you." She brushed a kiss against his cheek, fingers playing over his jaw. "It's not your scars that would make me stop, just your consent. Your skin shows the memory of a bad past, but that doesn't make you less handsome. Actually, it might make you  _ more _ handsome."

" _ That _ is overdoing it," he all but snorted, but his amusement only came at the very end. Until she had called him  _ more _ handsome, he'd been hanging onto her lips like he craved every word she said, like a parched man craved water.

So she smiled, more cheekily now. "I don't know, is it? I'm not attracted to Barry, but I  _ am _ attracted to you."

"You like your men all messed up," he accused, and she had no other answer than "guilty as charged."

His hands smoothed down to the small of her back, the splay of his fingers almost possessive for a moment before going right back to hesitant as he fingered the hem of her shirt. "You realise that the scar on my face is not all of it, right? Or even the worst of it."

"I'm your doctor, Savitar," she hummed in amusement. "What I haven't seen yet, I have deduced."

He gave a small shrug to acknowledge her point, and then leaned in slowly to capture her lips again. It was still tentative and slow, but when Caitlin pressed forward a little harder Savitar seemed to gain confidence. He pushed himself fully between her knees, their thighs pressing together against the cold table edge, and he let one hand tangle into her hair to tug her head back lightly. 

She obliged with a sigh of contentment, letting her head drop back and his lips explore away from her lips, kissing a trail from the corner of her mouth up to an ear, and then with light nibbles down her neck. Caitlin hummed encouragingly and scooted forward a bit until fast hands helped her out, pulling her flush against the lean body between her legs.

"You're so sweet, Caitlin," he muttered against her neck, breath hot on damp skin. "I could eat you all up."

Caitlin chuckled, low and dirty in a way that made Savitar give a small jerk of surprise against her, but she didn't tilt her head back down to show him the salacious grin adorning her lips. "Well then, what's keeping you, pretty boy?"


End file.
